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If the headline caused you to do a double take, you're not alone. The news is still sinking in for many that Apple will now allow app developers to monitor their approval status through a new feature added to Apple's Dev Center.

According to what some developers have reported to multiple outlets including our friends at Apple Insider, there may be as many as nine status levels for apps under review, such as "ready for sale" and "rejected."

While this update to the Dev Center website may not seem like a major change, it is a step in the right direction towards greater transparency and disclosure about the Application review process.

Although many of us may still not agree with the App Store's eventual decision to embrace or shun a submitted application, at least developers will know sooner whether to celebrate or punch a hole in the wall.

No matter how you slice it, it's likely that Apple is optimistic that this change will attract many developers who have been turned off and turned away in recent months by both the App Store submission and approval processes. Despite the acceptance of more than 100,000 apps to the App Store, Apple and scores of 3rd party developers now have a horrendous relationship if any relationship at all as a result of perceived hypocrisy in the approval process, vague rules and confounding policies, and a series of controversial app rejections that resonated with developers everywhere.

Earlier this year Apple Insider was told, "Many developers are pulling their hair out by the roots" over the approval process. Approvals that once took days were taking months and Apple's response to inquiry about the process was a stock answer or no received answer at all.

So what does it all mean?

As we've seen, Apple is being credited for taking a "step in the right direction" with what has become a rapidly deteriorating working relationship with developers perpetually frustrated at even a subtle mention of the App Store. And although the new feature in the Dev Center is sure to please many, ultimately, this is only the first of many steps Apple will need to take if the company hopes to be the truly developer-friendly entity it says it wants to be.